Dezeen and MINI Frontiers: scientists are combining non-living chemicals to create materials with the properties of living organisms, says the creator of a self-repairing shoe made from protocells. More about Synthetic materials can "behave like living cells"
Portuguese architect João Branco has converted a small office building in Coimbra into a home by installing softwood joinery that functions as furniture, storage and partitions (+ slideshow). More about Wooden structures combine partitions and furniture inside home by João Branco
News: Dutch firm Mecanoo has won the competition to renovate Mies van der Rohe's Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Library in Washington DC. More about Mies van der Rohe's Washington library to be overhauled by Mecanoo
Six British architecture studios including Zaha Hadid Architects, Hopkins Architects and Studio Weave have come up with designs for water fountains for different sites across London. More about Zaha Hadid and Hopkins among architects to design London water fountains
Dezeen promotion: the annual Munich Creative Business Week design festival in Germany is taking place from 22 February to 2 March 2014. More about Visit Munich Creative Business Week
Portuguese studio CVDB Arquitectos has created a tapestry museum with vaulted ceilings, marble walls and funnel-shaped skylights inside a twelfth-century hospital building (photos by Fernando Guerra + slideshow). More about Tapestry Museum by CVDB Arquitectos features marble walls and vaulted ceilings
Architect Sergio Rojo has renovated a dilapidated nineteenth-century cultural centre to create a hostel for weary travellers on the Way of St James pilgrimage route in northern Spain (+ slideshow). More about Hostel by Sergio Rojo provides rest stop on medieval pilgrimage route
Stockholm 2014: Swedish designer Gunilla Allard's Cajal sofas and armchairs feature slender tubular steel frames that support chunky upholstered seats (+ slideshow). More about Cajal sofas and armchair by Gunilla Allard balance seats on thin metal frames
The Rotsee rowing regatta takes place every summer on a lake outside Lucerne, Switzerland, and this wooden tower raised over the water accommodates the officials who observe, time and marshal each race (+ slideshow). More about Wooden Zielturm Rotsee tower built for judges of Swiss rowing regatta
Graffiti depicting gangly imaginary creatures by street artist Phlegm is currently on show at an east London gallery (+ slideshow). More about Graffiti fantasy creatures by Phlegm exhibited in east London
News: two British entrepreneurs are constructing a hydroponic farm in a network of tunnels under south London that could supply local restaurants and retailers with fresh herbs and vegetables. More about Underground farm built in abandoned tunnels beneath London
The curving lines of this steel wire chair by French designer Constance Guisset are intended to represent fabric draped over the seat and back (+ slideshow). More about Drapée chair by Constance Guisset designed to look like draped fabric
Fashion designer Christopher Kane's Autumn Winter 2014 collection shown at London Fashion Week features outlined layers of fabric that overlap like fluttering sheets of paper. More about Outlined silk layers fold across dresses by Christopher Kane
Dezeen promotion: this month is the last chance to submit architecture, interiors and design projects for the A' Design Award and Competition. More about Last chance to enter A' Design Award and Competition 2014
News: construction is set to begin later this year on a new six-storey home for Mexican design and architecture gallery Archivo, designed by emerging studio Zeller & Moye and overseen by Mexican architect and gallery founder Fernando Romero. More about Fernando Romero's new Archivo gallery to feature jutting floorplates
Opinion: fiction is essential reading for architects because it explores ideas about homes and buildings that are "normally repressed," argues Sam Jacob in this latest column. More about "Alongside every dream home is its nightmare twin"
Large glowing letters spell out the Portuguese Spanish word for tea at the front of this tea house in Brazil by architects Estudio 30 51, the third cafe we've featured in the last seven days (+ slideshow). More about Huge glowing letters lead inside El Té tea house by Estudio 30 51
An orange staircase zigzags back and forth across the atrium of this science faculty building that Canadian firm Saucier + Perrotte Architectes has completed for a Quebec college (+ slideshow). More about Grand orange staircase ascends through science faculty by Saucier + Perrotte
The floors of this open-plan apartment in London by local studio Form Design Architecture are covered with timber boards salvaged from an old Welsh chapel (+ slideshow). More about Warehouse loft by Form Design Architecture with floorboards salvaged from a chapel
Israeli ceramicist Michal Fargo produces these vases by ripping blocks of spongy foam into rough shapes before dipping them in porcelain and firing them (+ slideshow). More about Else vases by Michal Fargo moulded from torn foam blocks